$2K reward offered for stolen show bulldog

The owners of a prize-winning bulldog have doubled the reward for his safe return to $2,000.The dog used to go to work with his owners every day at a print shop in Santa Ana, but Bubba apparently snuck out of the building last week after a coworker left the front door open. While the coworker got on a bus to go home, Bubba was on the front lawn for 15 to 20 minutes.

Witnesses said they saw the dog trot down to 1st and Sullivan streets, where two men in a dark vehicle took him in a car.

"He was sitting on the front lawn area of our company and two gentlemen came across three lanes and pulled over to the side and called him because he's very, very friendly," said Suzanne Stephens, Bubba's owner. "And he wondered down and they grabbed him and threw him in a car and took off with him."

Stephens said it's possible the suspects circled their business more than once, casing the area and then moving in to take the 18-month-old show dog.

"It's awful. It's miserable not having Bubba home for the holidays," said Stephens.

Stephens shares the dog with her boyfriend Richard. They both work at MK Printing and have had Bubba since he was a baby.

"It's like losing our child. The dogs are our kids, and when a piece of you is missing, it's just not the same," Stephens said.

Bubba is a show dog, and his brother is the skateboarding bulldog featured on television commercials. The family is now circulating fliers and reaching out to the community, hoping someone knows who took him.

Stealing pets is a growing trends, with the American Kennel Club reporting a 30 percent increase in dog thefts over last year.

Bubba takes medication regularly, so the owners are very concerned.

"I just know in my heart that someone is going to do the right thing and bring him home," Stephens said. "I'm just praying for a Christmas miracle."